A Tom Petty classic is featured in the trailer for the latest installment of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto.
The clip for Grand Theft Auto VI features the Petty tune “Love Is A Long Road,” from his 1989 debut solo album, Full Moon Fever. The tune was the B-side to the hit single “Free Fallin’,” Petty’s highest charting Hot 100 hit, which landed at #7.
While “Love Is A Long Road” wasn’t officially released as a single, it still got airplay and peaked at #7 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.
Iggy Pop sings with Cat Power on a cover of the song “Working Class Hero” for an upcoming tribute album to English musician Marianne Faithfull.
“Working Class Hero” was originally written by John Lennon and recorded by Faithfull for her 1979 album, Broken English. On their version, Iggy’s gravelly, almost spoken word delivery contrasts with Cat Power’s ethereal vocals.
You can listen to the Pop/Power “Working Class Hero” cover streaming now on YouTube.
The tribute album, titled The Faithful, is due out December 8. It will support Marianne, 76, as she continues to battle with long COVID. She was hospitalized with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
Paul McCartney & Wings released their third album, Band on the Run, which became a huge hit and to this day remains McCartney’s most successful non-Beatles album.
The album produced two hits, the title track and “Jet,” and went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K.
The cover depicted McCartney, his wife Linda, and guitarist Denny Laine posing with actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee, British boxer John Conteh, U.K. broadcasters Michael Parkinson and Clement Freud, and English entertainer Kenny Lynch, all dressed as escaped convicts.
To celebrate the anniversary, McCartney just announced a special 50th anniversary edition, featuring an album of nine songs without any orchestral overdubs, dropping February 2. It is available for preorder now.
Green Day is celebrating the holiday season with new music.
The “American Idiot” trio will drop a track called “Dilemma,” a cut off their upcoming album Saviors, on Thursday, December 7, at 9 a.m. ET.
“Throwing a rager of a holiday party,” Green Day teases. “‘Dilemma’ is out everywhere on Thursday, come by then to check it out.”
“Dilemma” will be the third song released off of Saviors, following lead single “The American Dream Is Killing Me” and the track “Look Ma, No Brains!” The album will arrive in full on January 19.
Green Day will be supporting Saviors on a giant tour in 2024, which launches in the U.S. in July. The bill also includes The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas.
The Rush rocker has just released The Lost Demos, featuring the tracks “Gone” and “I Am…You Are,” which were recorded during the sessions for My Favorite Headache, his 2000 solo debut.
“I’m excited to see these two ‘lost demos’ released,” Geddy shares. “I loved the songs when they were written and in some ways they feel as fresh and perhaps more relevant all these years later.”
Both of these songs have been played during Lee’s current book tour for his memoir, My Effin’ Life. During the opening night show in New York, he revealed they would be included as part of the memoir’s audiobook.
The release coincides with the Tuesday, December 5, premiere of Lee’s new Paramount + docuseries, Are Bass Players Human Too?, which features appearances by such famous bassists as Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo, Primus‘ Les Claypool and Hole‘s Melissa Auf der Maur.
Lee wraps the U.S. leg of his My Effin’ Life book tour on Thursday, December 7, in Toronto. He then heads overseas for some U.K. dates, which kick off Sunday, December 10, in Wolverhampton, England. A complete list of dates can be found at rush.com.
If you’ve been dying to get your children to appreciate The Beatles, now’s your chance. The legendary band’s music has been added to the audio platform Yoto, which is aimed at children.
Three new Yoto cards of music from The Beatles and Paul McCartney are now available. Two of them feature music from The Beatles’ 1962-1966 (The Red Album) and 1967-1970 (The Blue Album), including “Love Me Do,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” from Red and “Penny Lane,” “All You Need Is Love,” “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be” from Blue.
The third, titled Paul McCartney: Say Hello to Paul McCartney, features a McCartney curated collection, including the themes to Paul’s children’s books, Hey Grandude and Hey Nandude.
Two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash is featured in a new video for the nonprofit Pass It On, which uses uplifting videos to inspire people to act with kindness, respect and generosity.
The latest video from the group features Nash’s tune “A Better Life” from his May release, Now.
“In a way, ‘Better Life’ is kind of an extension of my song ‘Teach Your Children,’” Nash says in the video, referring to the song made famous by his band, Crosby, Stills & Nash. “Even though they may be only 25% of our population, children are 100% of our future and we have to realize that. We have to take care of our kids.”
He adds, “Life is full of actions, you can think and you can talk all you want, do something. And even at 81 you can still rock. … Let’s make this world a better place.”
Blondie and Simple Minds are among the artists confirmed for the annual Cruel World Festival, happening May 11 in Pasadena, California.
The festival features a lineup heavy on acts from or influenced by the ’80s alternative and new wave scene. Duran Duran is set to headline the fest, which also features The Alarm, Soft Cell, Adam Ant, Gary Numan performing his 1979 album The Pleasure Principle, and The Motels, along with Interpol, Placebo, Ministry and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Registration is now open, with ticket passes going on sale Friday, December 8, at 12 p.m. PT. The full lineup and all ticket info can be found at CruelWorldFest.com.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just announced dates for a new tour of Australia and New Zealand. It will be Taylor’s first return to the area since 2017.
The nine-date trek kicks off April 12 in Perth, hitting Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and more, before heading to New Zealand for two shows — April 30 in Auckland and May 1 in Wellington.
Tickets for all shows go on sale Wednesday, December 6. A complete list of dates can be found at jamestaylor.com.
Jim Spellman/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson have given fans a smidgeon of hope that they may one day come together to play the band’s music again.
During an appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, both were asked whether they could go on following the death of drummer Neal Peart —and they didn’t rule it out.
“It’s difficult to figure out what that chapter is without him,” Lifeson shared. Lee added that he and Lifeson have discussed hiring a drummer to go out on tour with them, noting, “It’s not impossible, but at this point, I can’t guarantee it.”
But it sounds like Lifeson is a bit more hopeful that it may happen one day, sharing, “It’s just not in our DNA to stop.”
Lee, meanwhile, is still out on his book tour promoting his recently released memoir, My Effin’ Life. It hits Detroit, Michigan, on December 4 and wraps December 7 in Toronto.
